The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-08-20
UP THE CONGO.
What Is Known Of the Progress OF
stanley's Expedition.
How the Intrepid Leader May Have
Met His Death.
Not Improbable that the News
Should Have Reached Europe.

leader, IL would not De Impossible Tor tne
news TO have reached Europe before thi:
time. Stanley's expedition was formed fol-
the purpose Of carrying relief to Emin Bey,
who is the Khedive's representative in the
equatorial province. After the uprising in
the Soudan, Emin was cut off from c0mmu.
nication with the outside world. and the
plan was formed to send Stanley to his as
sistance, if he was found in need Of aid, or,
at any rate, to find out the true state Of affairs
in the region Of which Emin Bey is the gov
ernOr.
On the 10th Of July two versions of Stan
ley's death reached Europe, one being that
he had been shot while fighting the natives
to obtain supplies, the other that his steam
er was sunk in ascending the river, and that
he was killed by natives. The report ema-
mated from missionary at Matadi. opposite
Viyi, ON the Lower Congo, who said that he
had heard 1t from native from up country.
The report reached Brussels few days az
terwards that the Stanley expedition had
reached the Aruwimi river on June I'd, and
that he intcaded to pass up that stream some
eighty miles, as far as the rapids, when his
overland journey of $50 miles to Wadelai,
Emin Bey's headquarters. would begin. On
the same day that the rumor Of Stanley's
death reached England, the following ac-
count OF his movements was telegraphed
from st. Paul de Lowanda:
On May 20, the expedition arrived at the con-
tilla was composed Of the Stanley, towing two
lighters, the Henry Reed and the Peace, carrying
$50 men and stores. The Peace, whose rate OF
the other vessels. Only few men were Ill. Mr..
STANLEY Immediately pitched his camp on the
heights bordering the right bank Of the Aruwlmi
ha tuer mt rha
weather was fine, and the prospects of re
yictualing the camp were fay 0rable. On June I'd
Mr; Stanley aeit Tor Wadela taking with him 1--WE
leaving the remainder under the command Of an
ofncer In charge Of the camp at Aruwimi. At Boz
ma II was considered that 1t would take Mr.. Stan
ley two months TO reach Wadelai or 10 meet
Emin Pasha should the latter happen TO be on his
expedition on the Albert Nyanza or i'm the Uson-
thought that the steamer st IN ey. whose engines
nad been greatly strained by the difficulties at
tending the passage up the river, would be able to
return on June Sd, the day following the dep TT
ure Of Mr.; Stanley for the interior. The vessel
was to go back as Tar as Leopoldyille, at Stanley
river, taking to the Aruwimi camp the stores
which had been LEFT at the Pool and the men who
had remained behind at Bolobo, under the com
orders for the immediate departure OF the steam
er. When passing through the Bangalas country
Ess5s EsssI ths expedition stayed hours the
which had lately been In disturbed state was
quiet again.
So far this is the latest full despatch from
the Aruwimi. A later despatch brought the
news that the expedition had arrived at the
falls or rapids of the Aruwimi about ten
days later.
At the falls Of the Aruwiml Stanley's real
difficulties would commence. There he
would have to leave his steamers, pass
around the rapids, and enter upon an unex-
plOred country, inhabited by the Basokos,
well remembered as being deadly hostile to
the slave traders At the confluence Of the
Aruwimi with the Congo Stanley expected
to meet Tippoo-Tib, the great Arab slave
trader, who, 1t will be remembered, was ap-
pointed by Stanley himself as second in COM
mand. Tippoo-Tib left Stanley Pool some
months before Stanley, and his orders were
TO proceed to Stanley Falls Station, which is
from hundred and fifty to two hundred
miles southeast Of Aruwimi, and there to
make preparation for the transportation Of
the expedition by way Of the Mubra TO Wad-
elai. The unsettled condition of the country
eastward of Stanley Falls and the known
hostility OF the natives. however, de-
termined Stanley to, change his course
and to seek 70 reach Wadelai by way
oflAruwimi. On Wednesday morning ne VS.
was cabled from Brussels which passed un-
noticed but is really Of great importance for
judging OF the truth Of the rumors about
Stanley's death. The Congo authorities in
Brussels say that letters had been received
presumably from Leopoldyille. The report
says: "A large party Of Tippoo Tbs Arab
slave traders had descended below Stanley
Falls and the Basok natives, after affecting
to receive them with open arms, had sur
rounded and attacked their camp during the
night One hundred Arabs were killed and
the others fed. When Stanley approached
the Basoko country believing that il was a
fresh Arab expedition to punish them,
they ran away. Stanley, therefore, tray-
ersed their country without meeting with
It is evident that all this refers TO Tippoo
Tbs journey back from Stanley Falls
where he had first been sent by Stanley, to
the Aruwimi Congo iuction, where Stanley
arrived on June q The Basoko country Is
to the Congo. The Brussels authority says
STANLEY. therefore, traversed their (the
Basoko) country without meeting with any
hostility" The word therefore shows that
the Brussels man is making deductions, and
not giving facts, consequently, his report is
pear from the dispatches that stanley
sent the news Of the fight between TippoO-
Tbs men and the natives, and we have to
assume that the news came down the stream
by native messengers, as was the case with
the Stanley rumors published July p. At
any rate, the report shows that the natives
on the Congo and the Aruwimi are ON the
war-path, primarily against TippOo Tib and
the slave traders, and as they appear to be-
lieve the Stanley expedition was one sent by
naturally be directed against him. After at
tacking Tippoo Tbs men the BasOkos ap-
pear to have withdrawn further into the
interior, in the first place because they were
frightened at the magnitude of the fOtilla;
in the second, to await better opportunity
for making an attack. These facts lend sup
port to the assumption of the truth of the
ominous rumors. Besides, the steamer STAN
ley, which left the Aruwimi June 2. does not
appear to have been heard from. All the
elements for calamltous ending Of the ex-
pedition seem to be present.
That the news of Stanley's death should
now be reported from Zanzibar is explained
in the fact that the majority Of Stanley's fol-
lowers are natives Of Zanzibar, and were en-
gagged by MN there last year News and ru-
rican tribes, and the road from the great
lakes to the coast is regularly Travelled by
the slave traders and by natives. OF course
the rumors still need verificatiOn, but the si-
lence of Stanley himself, who could have
been heard from easily within six weeks af-
ter reaching the Falls of the Aruwimi, is
ominous. The distance which news has to
come is not quite 1900 miles, as will be seen
from the following table:
Miles.
yivi to Isangela navigation impossible).... So
isangela 70 Manyaga for light draught
Manyaga to Leopoldville (at the entrance Of
Stanley POOI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 96
Leopoidville TO the Aruwimi (no Interrupt
tlon In navigation), about. 500
Total, Total -: ,i46
terruption) about........ .................... 200
Iotai ..''....................... ,345
Another View.
LONDON, Aug ia private letter re-
ceived from st. Paul de Loanda today
ascribes the rumors Of Stanley's meath to the
desire of the natives in certain parts of At
rica through which he is travelling to put him
out OF the way rather than to any certainty
That they have accomplished their wish. A
portion Of the natives are extremely hostile
to strangers and especially detest explorers,
who, they claim, are overbearing and cruel,
and at the best are merely the forerunners OF
a more powerful body Of white men, whose
object Is the seizure of land and extermina-
tiOn of the natives The stories of Stanley's
massacre, the letter says, are impossible of
belief for variety of reasons, any one of
which is sufficient to divest the reports OF re-
liability.
ZANZIBAR, Aug. 19-Well informed peo-
N har arH haaa -